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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by JenStar on August 23, 2004, at 20:21:06
hi all,
I read a fascinating article in the New Yorker about a man who donated a kidney to a complete stranger. (It's called a non-directed donation, it's done for free, and the organ is given to a random person on the waiting list.)He felt it was the start of moral life; that NOT donating a kidney to a random stranger who needed it was akin to murder; that if his wife tried to argue him out of it she would be an accessory to murder. He had also donated most of his millions of $$ to charity.
My question is: Do YOU think that people are not nice enough these days? I'm not just talking about failing to donating a kidney if we have two functional ones.
Should we be doing more just to help each other out -- donate money to charities, let someone in during rushhour traffic, smile at a stranger, give away a seat on the bus to an elderly person, etc?
The article made me think about society and how we treat each other on a day-to-day basis. It made me wonder about the act of Doing Good. Obviously there has to be survival benefit to Doing Good, even from donating a kidney (which seems sort of dangerous and anti-survival). It brought this man a huge wealth of joy and happiness and obviously made him feel that his life was full of meaning. Is Doing Good really a selfish act? In the end, does it matter, if it benefits others and society at large?
Just pondering.
I would like to hear what you all think about this!JenStar
Posted by Camille Dumont on August 23, 2004, at 21:57:14
In reply to Kidneys and Altruism - your thoughts?, posted by JenStar on August 23, 2004, at 20:21:06
Well for me any act of charity is not selfless as it does bring you a sense of meaning and of doing good ... but the great thing about is that it can also help someone else.
I think today we tend to focus on such superficial things. We think about our money, we think about our security ... and sometimes it blinds us ... we see only the future and forget ot see the present ... and the years pass by and we only see what is ahead, not what is here now and I think many opportunities to do good now are lost.
It may sound silly but my rats are a great life lesson for that. They don't live very long ... between two and three years. To me it seems short, but not to them. I worry about how old they will live but not them. They don't care, what matters to them is whether they are happy right now, in the present momment. It doesn't matter if tomorrow is going a good day or bad day because if they are feeling good right now, then its all that counts, they are perfectly happy in that small amount of time with not a care for the future.
I'm deviating a bit but the point I'm trying to bring is that often it seems with put to tomorrow the goodness we could do today. Sometimes you realise that very very small acts can make so much good, that just a tiny cost to you can mean a great gift to someone else ... if you put it back in perspsective.
Posted by AuntieMel on August 24, 2004, at 16:31:22
In reply to Kidneys and Altruism - your thoughts?, posted by JenStar on August 23, 2004, at 20:21:06
Well, with all the meds in me I better keep my kidneys in case I need them.
But "donate money to charities, let someone in during rushhour traffic, smile at a stranger, give away a seat on the bus to an elderly person, etc?" I actually do that stuff, though I'm a little light on the donating money part. It's just what you do here.
The rushhour traffic thing amused me. Someone (either nytimes or timemagazine) went out to time the space between the light turning green and the honk. In our town, no one honked. He thought it must be a fluke, so he did it again - still no honk, and so on.
Someone else did a big letter to the editor of the paper talking about how friendly our drivers are (he'd just moved herre) and how if he is in a parking lot, someone always lets him out onto the streety.
But - I digress. I think doing these things are what make us a civilized world and there can never be too much of it. And I find that if I treat strangers (even grumpy ones) with respect and a smile I get it returned in spades. It's quite selfish, actually.
Posted by gabbix2 on August 24, 2004, at 21:34:31
In reply to Kidneys and Altruism - your thoughts?, posted by JenStar on August 23, 2004, at 20:21:06
> Is Doing Good really a selfish act?
I find the argument the doing good is selfish a circular one. If you are the kind of person who feels good when assisting others, as opposed to gaining satisfaction from hurting them
it simply means you have a kind heart to begin with. A person who is truly selfish wouldn't derive any pleasure from "selfless" act.
This is the end of the thread.
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